Season 3

Season 3 of Dancing with the Stars premiered on September 12, 2006, on the ABC network.

On November 15, 2006, former NFL running back Emmitt Smith and professional dancer Cheryl Burke were announced the winners, marking the second win for Burke.

Couples
The number of couples competing expanded to eleven from the ten in the previous season.

On October 12, 2006, Sara Evans announced her withdrawal from the competition to be with her kids after filing for divorce from her husband, Craig Schelske. In a "final appearance", a pre-taped interview with Evans about her decision was shown on the October 17 episode. Willa Ford stated on Headline News' Robin & Company that ABC had invited her to return to the competition, but she declined. At the end of the October 18 results show, after showing the bottom two, it was revealed that there would be no elimination for the week due to Evans' departure. The scores of week six were combined with the scores of week seven for the October 25 elimination. Evans returned for the season finale. The eleven celebrities and professional dance partners were: Emmitt Smith returned for the All-Stars season, where he was again paired with Cheryl Burke. They finished 4th place.

Hosts and Judges
Tom Bergeron and Samantha Harris returned as hosts.

Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli returned as judges.

Average Chart
This table only counts dances scored on a 30-point scale.

Highest and Lowest Scoring Performances
The best and worst performances in each dance according to the judges' 30-point scale are as follows:

Couples' Highest and Lowest Scoring Dances
Scores are based upon a potential 30-point maximum.

Weekly Scores
Individual judges' scores in the charts below (given in parentheses) are listed in this order from left to right: Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli.

Tour
On the October 25, 2006, results show, the first Dancing with the Stars - The Tour event was announced. Produced by ABC and Anschutz Entertainment Group, the live-action tour featured celebrities and professional dancers from U.S. seasons 1-3. The tour through 18 arena venues started in San Diego, California on December 19, 2006, and ended in Atlantic City, New Jersey on February 11, 2007. The pairs performing in the tour were:


 * Drew Lachey and Cheryl Burke
 * Joey McIntyre and Kym Johnson
 * Lisa Rinna and Louis Van Amstel
 * Joey Lawrence and Edyta Śliwińska
 * Harry Hamlin and Karina Smirnoff
 * Willa Ford and Maksim Chmerkovskiy

At the last minute Willa and Maksim pulled out due to other commitments.